IRIN Web Special on Nigeria

NIGERIA: A rendez-vous with history

Only two general elections in Nigeria have been organised by civilian governments since independence from Britain in 1960. In each case, the elections were marred by irregularities and violence. In each case, they were followed by military overthrows. The presidential, legislative and state polls from 12 April to 3 May represent the third attempt by a civilian government to organise successful elections in Nigeria. Whatever the outcome of the the polls, Africa's most populous nation will still have to grapple with key issues that affect the well-being of its 120 million people. Communal and religious conflicts, and violence sparked by competition for resources figure high among these issues. This web special looks at the elections, the main players, the issue of conflict in general and in particular the Niger Delta question, one of the thorniest issues Nigeria's authorities and people are likely to face in the next four years.

NIGERIA: First elections organised by civilians in two decades

LAGOS, 10 April (IRIN) - General elections in Nigeria between 12 April and 3 May constitute yet another attempt to hold the country's first successful civilian-run polls and break a trend - some call it a jinx - that has dogged it throughout its 42-year history.

Only on two previous occasions - in 1964 and 1983 - have elected civilian governments supervised general elections. Each was characterised by widespread vote rigging and violence that left the country tottering. In both cases the military intervened soon afterwards, dismissed the civilian authorities and went on to hold power for long spells.

The first military coup in 1966 toppled the government instituted at independence from Britain in 1960, and precipitated events leading to the 1967-70 civil war in which more than one million people died. It was 13 years before another elected government returned to power.

The man who became the first military leader in Nigeria to have voluntarily handed over power - in 1979 - to elected civilians was General Olusegun Obasanjo. He had assumed power three years earlier after his military predecessor was assassinated in a failed coup. Obasanjo is currently Nigeria's president and faces another rendezvous with history as he leads his country to yet another critical vote.

30 political parties contesting

A total of 30 political parties are contesting the elections as against three in 1999. But only 20 are presenting presidential candidates. Some of the others do not fancy their chances of winning the presidential race while two (Alliance for Democracy - one of the three that contested four years ago - and Masses Party of Nigeria) have given their support to Obasanjo, who is seeking re-election as candidate of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP).

Obasanjo's strongest challenger is General Muhammadu Buhari of the main opposition All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) who, like the president, is a former military ruler. Two other candidates also have military backgrounds, reflecting the strong influence military elements have in Nigerian politics. Maj-Gen Ike Nwachukwu, a former foreign minister in a previous military government, is the candidate of the National Democratic Party. Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu who, as a colonel in the Nigerian army, led the attempted secession of the southeast - the issue over which the 1967-70 Biafra war was fought - is the flagbearer of the All Progressive Grand Alliance.

The smaller parties secured their registration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after a lengthy legal battle that ended in their favour at the Supreme Court. The best known among them include: the National Conscience Party, led by fiery human rights lawyer Gani Fawehinmi; the Green Party of Nigeria, led by Olisa Agbakoba, another lawyer-activist; and the Movement for Democracy and Justice led by Muhammed Dikko Yusuf, a former police chief. In the 1960s, Yusuf set up the country's secret police and intelligence services, but in the last decade he has presented himself as a masses-oriented political activist.

The electoral contest is made even more intriguing by the candidacy of Chris Okotie of the Justice Party and Moji Adekunle-Obasanjo of the Masses Movement of Nigeria. Okotie is a popular Christian pentecostal preacher, who first came into the limelight in the 1980s as a pop star before he gave up music for evangelism. Adekunle-Obasanjo, a retired army major, had married President Obasanjo in 1991 under customary law but they later separated.

First elected President in 15 years of military rule

When Obasanjo took office in 1999, it was as the head of the first elected government in Nigeria since he relinquished power in 1979. More than 15 years of often brutal military rule had passed, during which the political problems spawned by colonial attempts to weld together more than 250 ethnic nationalities as one country were kept under a lid by the force of the gun but never quite resolved.

These problems had been compounded by the emergence of the oil boom of the 1970s, when crude oil which first ran in trickles after initial discoveries in the mid-1950s, became a flood that brought billion of dollars in its wake. The competition among the power elites - politicians, bureaucrats in government, and military officers - now revolved around control of the huge amounts accruing to the treasury.

The power centres and the patronage system that emerged fuelled, not productivity, but corruption and conspicuous consumption. Only a minority of Nigeria's 120 million people benefitted from the upswing in national revenue, while the rest bore the brunt of economic mismanagement. Competition within this minority of military elites, contractors, businessmen, middlemen and power brokers for the control of national resources created a vicious circle of coups and counter coups, social and political instability.

Nigeria faced its worst crisis since the civil war after military ruler General Ibrahim Babangida, in his reluctance to leave power, annulled presidential elections in 1993, judged free and fair by local and international observers. Babangida was forced to leave power by massive protests but in the ensuing turmoil, General Sani Abacha seized power.

Abacha unleashed even greater repression and began a process to transform himself from military to civilian ruler by emerging as the joint presidential candidate of all political parties. Abacha's sudden death in 1998, apparently from a heart attack, paved the way for reforms initiated by his successor, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, leading to elections in 1999. Obasanjo, who won the vote, had only months before been freed from prison after Abacha jailed him for allegedly plotting his overthrow.

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